For Immediate Release
Contact: Donald H. Putnam, Managing Partner Grail Partners LLC 415 677 5898 DPutnam@GrailPartners.com
Investment Banker Don Putnam Launches Grail Partners SAN FRANCISCO, February 16, 2005 – Donald H. Putnam, founder and until this month CEO of Putnam Lovell NBF Securities Inc., a leading investment bank serving the global financial services community, has departed the bank that bought his business in 2002 and formed a new firm with an even more focused specialty. Grail Partners LLC is dedicated to the money management business: institutional and retail portfolio management, alternative asset management, private wealth management and related distribution businesses. From offices in New York, Boston, and San Francisco, Grail provides a select collection of clients worldwide with advisory and merchant banking services. “Money management is a fundamental part of the business of banks, insurers, brokerage firms, and finance companies, and the lifeblood of asset managers and private client firms, yet increasingly under pressure from regulators and clients alike unhappy with the cost, complexity, and opacity of products,’’ said Mr. Putnam. “Under stress, the industry is changing while growing rapidly. Our goal is to provide a bit of navigational help and a bit of heavy weather seamanship for those clients we believe have a successful strategic vision.’’ Since founding Putnam Lovell in 1987, Mr. Putnam, 53, has become recognized as one of the leading investment bankers serving financial institutions, having steered many prominent transactions, including the Allianz Group acquisition of Pimco Advisors; the Deutsche Bank purchase of Scudder Investments; the Chase Manhattan Corp. acquisition of Robert Fleming Ltd.; and the merger of New England Investment Companies into Reich & Tang LP to create Nvest LP. Throughout his investment banking career, he has also advised privately on the restructuring of dozens of prominent institutional and alternative investment management firms. After fifteen years as the leading independent boutique in the sector, and after diversifying rapidly into related Research, Institutional Equity and Fixed Income activities, Putnam Lovell was acquired in 2002 by National Bank Financial Inc., a subsidiary of National Bank of Canada. Mr. Putnam served as CEO of Putnam Lovell NBF, Vice Chairman of the Board of National Bank Financial, and a Managing Director in Putnam Lovell NBF’s investment banking group before leaving the company at the expiration of his contract. Under Mr. Putnam’s leadership, Putnam Lovell led all financial advisers in 2004 based on the number of transactions in the securities and investments category, according to SNL DataSource, a premier US information specialist serving the financial services industry. The company
banked eighteen publicly disclosed deals in 2004, in addition to more than a dozen undisclosed assignments. “Grail Partners is not a Wall Street or Montgomery Street or City investment bank. Our sole passion and purpose: helping a few of the very best firms in the world achieve their longterm goals,’’ Mr. Putnam said. “We are opinionated, and we are committed to a client only if their strategy is a winner, not merely because they can afford us.’’ “Grail Partners will grow selectively through the success of our clients not in size but in influence on the shape of the industry as it faces challenges,’’ Don Putnam said. To help serve its clients, Grail Partners taps an exclusive network of experienced industry executives, lawyers, accountants, and former regulators as Limited Partners. “Every crisis feels new to those involved, just as every storm at sea is unique,’’ said Mr. Putnam. “But the components are not new – it helps to hear from those who have Been There, Done That. The hundreds of senior industry executives we have served in the last twenty years have an incredible wealth of experience and a generosity of spirit that serves our clients well.’’ Biographical Data for Donald H. Putnam Before forming Putnam Lovell in 1987, Mr. Putnam worked at SEI Investments from 1980 to 1986, where he was an Executive Vice President of the parent company, President of SEI Financial Services Company, and President of its various mutual funds with assets under management in excess of $15 billion. Prior to joining SEI, Mr. Putnam was a Senior Consultant at Catallactics Corporation (a subsidiary of SunGard), where he devised new products and strategies for major banks, including Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, The Boston Company, and The Northern Trust Company. From 1973 to 1978, Mr. Putnam held various positions in the Trust & Investment Group of Bankers Trust Company where he was involved in the design of the Bank's index funds and other trust services. Mr. Putnam is Chairman of the Board of Asset Management Finance Corp., a joint venture of Pacific Life and National Bank of Canada, and serves on the boards of Luminent Inc., a publicly traded REIT, and Education Finance Partners Inc., a finance company providing private funding for college students. He is a Trustee of the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, and an Overseer of the International Rescue Committee in New York. He lives in San Francisco and New York with his wife and three children, and is an avid sailor and amateur historian. ###